"A Cheerful Noise"
Saturday 4th October 2025

This event is now past.
Scroll down to listen to the recordings made.

Old St George's Church, Esher, Surrey

We had a wonderful day singing metrical psalms, early hymns and anthems, and some thrilling Christmas carols, all drawn from the music of the pre-Victorian parish church. For the first time ever we formed our own band from among our members, following the practice of those times before organs were commonplace in ordinary parish churches. Some of our members who are involved with other ‘West Gallery’ quires or in the Regency Ball world came in costume aadding a tremendous period authenticity.

St George's Church Esher is Grade 1 listed, and dates largely from the Tudor period. It was one of the few anglican churches built during Reformation times.
Queen Victoria once worshipped here.

By the 1850s it was too small for the growing town and a new parish church for Esher was built nearby. As a result it escaped the Victorian 'modernisation' project and retains such distinctive pre-Victorian features as its three-decker pulpit and gallery.
This makes it a perfect setting for us to explore the vibrant and exhilarating music of those earlier times, known today as 'west gallery'.

What did we sing?

We sang the hymns, metrical psalmody, and anthems composed during the period approximately from 1700-1850 for parish and country churches. It is often referred to as 'west gallery' because the village band and choir were frequently located in a gallery at the west end of the church. This repertoire was quite different from 'cathedral music', and encompassed a wide variety of styles and sophistication. Most of all, this music is emotionally very direct - whether exuberant or poignant, it expresses itself vigorously and is exhilarating to sing. It is also largely quite straightforward, having been written for the amateur musicians of the time. Yet this tradition has produced some of the most stirring music in the English church repertoire.

If you would like to know about future events like this send me an email at phil@withcheerfulvoice.org.uk.